5 Minute Genealogy episodes on FamilySearch

I’m seeing a lot of negativity about the new FamilySearch website, apart from my concerns about the Family Tree section, and I admit I haven’t looked into that very deeply, I can’t see what all the fuss is about. I suspect that for some people it is more about being familiar with the “old” FamilySearch and not liking change. I see in a blog post from Chris Paton that The National Archives, London is discontinuing their old search section and only offering the new Discovery search engine. Change is what happens as we journey through life so I can’t see why we think the genealogy world should stay static!

Anyway I will now get off my soapbox and continue with what I wanted to write about today !!

FamilySearch has a Learning Centre on the new site, I have written before about the videos, podcasts and written lessons that have been offered in the past, they are excellent and very helpful especially for beginners and those venturing into a new genealogical area or country. The new website offers the archived RootsTech presentation, well worth a look, the lessons that were on the old FamilySearch plus a new beginners course called “5 minute genealogy”. There are 21 episodes all broken down into 5 minute segments so that you can learn and then put into practice each step. The series is based around the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, but can be used wherever you live using the internet and Family History Centres.

I think these lessons, videos and podcasts will be of great help to existing genealogists and also the new generation of genealogists that are just starting. The theme of RootsTech was to encourage younger people into family history and this new Learning Centre will do just that.

Comments

In The Netherlands the main genealogy website of approx. 1810-1910 was replaced by another one, that didn’t work so well at first, had less search options & was to be a pay site (they’ve postponed the paying now for a while). It has generated a whole lot of protests, too. The problem was that the change was from something quite good (exept for some off time) to something defenitely less, but hopefully will be better within a year or so.

About Me

History, particularly Family History is my passion. I have worked in libraries & archives, I teach family history, conduct workshops and give genealogy presentations. It seemed a shame to have all this knowledge & experience and not share it with others, so this website was born.